Supporting apparatus for use in tempering furnaces



e. M. EATON.

-$UPPORTING APPARATUS FOR USE IN TEMPERlNG FURNACES. APPLICATION FILED AUG.2 5. 1919.

71,416,006. Patented May16Q1922.

A ATrbRNEY above pointed out. i

arena? FFHQE,

GEORGEM. EATON, or PITTSBURGH, rnNN'sYLvaNIA, essrenoa'ro WESTINGHOUSE .unno'rnro & MANUFACTURING COMPANY, aeo-aronATIoN or rnNNsYLvA'NIn.

SUPEORTI-NG APPARATUS FOR USE IN TEMPERIZN'G FURNACES.

' Application filed August 26,

To all whom it may concern: v

- Be it known thatI, GEORGE M. EATON, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident "of Pittsburgh, in the county oat-Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Supporting Apparatus't'or Use in Tempering Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates-to supporting apparatus for use in temp'e'ring'furnaces, and, more particularly, to jigs for tempering gear rims and other metal pieces and'it has, for its prima ryoloject', the provision of a jig of this character which shall so support a wor: piece being tempered as to prevent any warping or bending thereof.

Heretofore, trouble has been experienced in tempering metal pieces, and particularly gear rims, because of the fact that the floor of th tempering furnace, as well as supports placed thereon to receive the gear rim being treated, become warped during the heating process.

Consequently, the rim, which is resting upon its side, is unevenly supported and its weight is non-uniformly distributed. As a result, during the latter portion of the heating, while the gear rim is unable to sustain its own weight it sags to equalize, at least partly, the weight dis tribution over the various points. upon which it rests.

One of the objects of my present invention is to provide a -supporting jig upon which the gear rim or other piece being tempered will be supported at a plurality of points in such manner that its weight will be approximately equally distributed or equalized at the pointsof support, irrespectiveof warping of the furnace floor or of parts of the jig itself.

' Since, in practice, the gear rim is then oughly annealed before the' ternperin'g heat and is, consequently, practically free-"from internal strain or stresses, it follows that it will remain in the physical shape in which it exists when placed in thefurnace, if the furnace is evenly heated and it the material is unlform and its weight is uniformly distributed upon a support of the character As any three given points always lie in a plane common to the threepoints, irrespeotive of the relative movements of the points, it will be apparent that, by providing "a properly proportioned three point 1 suspen- Spee'ificationhf Ietters'Patent PQRIq'jlltQd lwaymlfi, 1922,

19 :9. seriaiNo. 319,858.

sion or support for an article, the weight of the article will be substantiallyfuniformly distributed at the three points of support,

irrespective ofany warping of the support,

which changes the location of the points.

"O n'e' or the primary objects of my invention, therefore, resides in providing what may relatively be termed a three-point support for the piece being treated, although, in

practice, I prefer to employ a supporthaving a p'lur'ality of piece-engagingpoints or portions numbering a multiple of three, "in order that. the work or piece may "have its weight distributed over a relatively large number offsupporting points located relatively close together without sacrificing any of theadv'antages of athree-point support dicate like parts, and then particularly pointed out in theclaims.

. In the d-rawings,"Fig. 1 is 'a plan view of 5 my tempering jig showing a gear rim supported thereon, part of therim being'brolren ""away'ior the sake of clearness'; Fig. 2 ma front elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a 'fragnle'ntaryelevational view taken as indicated by the line III-III of Fig. 1. 7

' Referring "more particularly to Figs. '1 and ofthe 'd.rawings,,my improved supporting apparatus or tempering fligmw comprise a base 1 of any suitable material, such as cast iron; and of any desired "shape.

Preferably, however, "the base is "annularin s1 pe, as shown in Fig, 1, thiswill perll llt tl1e inverting and dropping of a quench in jig, which is employed to keep they'gear rim circular during its "quenching, into the rim atterth-e Withdrawal-of thetempemng jigufro-m the-furnaceand-the clamping :of the quenching 'jiginto the gearrlm :in the customary'manner. a

' Yin-practice, the fio'or of the furnace (not shown) -rnay be provided with two or three spaced rails .2 to support the base or-my jig and the base-maybe pi-ov1de'd,upon.1ts low r face, with a corresponding number of slide ways 3 to hold it to the rails or it may be provided with wheels disposed to travel upon the rails. If two rails are provided, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the base is provided with substantially a threepoint support upon the rails, as will be readily appreciated. When three rails are provided, they will preferably be uniformly spaced and the slideways will be correspondingly formed upon the base. The front of thebase may be provided with an eye-bolt 4 or equivalent means for facilitating withdrawal of the jig from the furnace, if desired. I

The upper face of the base is provided with three uniformly and circumferentially spaced, radial channels or slideways 5, which are preferably under-cut somewhat, the channels in the upper face of the base being so disposed as to be located directly above points where the base engages the supporting rails.

Slidably mounted in each of the channels 5 of the base is a supporting bracket or clevis 6, the spaced arms of which are provided with alined openings to loosely receive a pivot pin 7 upon which is mounted an equalizing or weight-distributing support 8. Each support 8 has upwardly directed worl piece-engaging ends 9 which may preferably have upstanding shoulders 10 adapted, to engage against the outer peripheral edge of a gear rim 11 resting upon the ends 9 of the equalizing members.

All of the above described parts should be loosely connected so that there may be no undue binding of the parts by reason of expansion and contraction of the metal of which they are composed, and the parts should also be liberally designed to support such weights as they are to carry at the temporing necessarily, the length of the equalizing or heats. Preferably, although not weight-distributing supports will be substantially equal to the mean radius of the gear rims to be tempered, as shown in Fig. 1. However, any given jig may be readily adjusted and is practically adapted to support gear-rims of a considerable range of diameters.

When employing my tempering jig, the supporting brackets 6 are adjusted radially with respect to the base in such manner that, when the gear rim is positioned upon the upturned ends of the equalizing members, it *Wlll be engaged by the retaining shoulders or lugs 10. When the gear rim has been mounted upon the jig in this manner, the jig and the supported rim are moved along the rails 2 into the furnace and the heating is conducted in the usual manner, after which the jig may be withdrawn from the furnace and the rim may be clamped to a quenching jig and removed for further treatment.

,aiepoe From the foregoing description, it will be obvious that my improved tempering jig provides a' doubled three-point support for the gear rim and that the weight of the rim is equalized or distributed with. substantial uniformity over the points of support. Furthermore, as each pair of supporting points has a single point of support, the rim is, in effect, mounted upon a three-point support and possesses all the advantages derived from such a support, although it actually engages the equalizing members at six points. Naturally, this principle may be extended, if desired, as by pivoting supple mental equalizing members in the upturned ends of the main equalizingmembers previously described. This will be desirable, however, only when annealing unusually large work pieces or rims.

Under the circumstances set forth, it will be clear that the weightof the rim will be uniformly distributed upon the various points of its support and that this distribution of weight will remain constant, irrc spective of any warping of the furnace floor, rails or parts of the jig itself.

Although I have illustrated a preferrml embodiment of my invention and have described it in considerable detail, it will be appreciated that various changes, both in design and arrangement of parts, may be resorted to if deemed advisable, particularly in adapting my jig to the support of work pieces other than gear rims. For this reason,

no limitations are to be imposed upon my invention other than those indicated in the claims.

I claim as my invention 1. A supporting apparatus for use in tempering furnaces comprising a base and three spaced supporting means carried thereby.

2. A supporting apparatus for use in teen pering furnaces comprising a base andin dependently movable weight-distributing supports carried thereby. i

3, A supporting apparatus for use in tempermg furnaces comprising a base and independently movable weight-distributing supports carried thereby in multiples of three. i l

4. A supporting apparatus for use in tempering furnaces comprising a base and a plurality of supporting means circumferentially arranged and uniformly spaced upon the base. W.

5. A supporting apparatus for use in tempering furnaces comprising a base and plurality of supporting means G1l'CUl1lf61611- tially arranged and uniformly spaced upon the base, each supporting means being tiltable and engageable with a piece to be tempered at a plurality of points.

6. A. supporting apparatus for use in tempering furnaces comprising a base, three uniformly and circumferentially spaced slideways formed in the base, brackets radially movable relative to each other in the slideways, and supporting means pivotably mounted in the brackets.

7. A supporting apparatus for use in tempering furnaces comprising a base, three uniformly and circumferentially spaced slideways formed in the base, brackets radially movable relative to each other in the slideways, and supporting means pivotably mounted in the brackets, each supporting means comprising a member having upturned ends to receive a piece to be tempered.

8. A supporting apparatus for use in tem pering furnaces comprising a base, three uniformly and circumferentially spaced slideways formed in the base, brackets radi ally movable relative to each other in the slideways, and supporting means pivotably mounted in the brackets, each supporting means including a member having upturned ends provided with shoulders whereby a piece to be tempered may rest upon the ends with its periphery in engagement with the shoulder.

9. A supporting apparatus for use in the heat treatment of materials comprising a base, three brackets adjustable toward and.

away from each other radially upon the base and disposed at uniformly spaced circumferential intervals, and supporting means movably mounted in the brackets.

10. A supporting apparatus for use in tempering furnaces comprising a base adapted for movement along rails, and three supporting means disposed in uniformly spaced circumferential relation for radial movement toward and away from each other.

11. A supporting apparatus for use in tempering furnaces comprising a base adapted for movement along rails, and three supporting means disposed in uniformly spaced circumferential relation for radial movement toward and away from each other. each supporting means being independently tiltable.

12. A supporting apparatus for use in tempering furnaces comprising an annular base having three uniformly spaced radial slideways, brackets mounted for sliding movement in the slideways and supporting members having upturned ends pivoted in the brackets. I

13. A supporting apparatus for use in the heat treatment of metals comprising three circumferentially arranged supporting members each adapted to engage a metal piece to be treated atspaced points and means for holding the supporting members in their spaced relation while leaving them free for independent tilting movement.

14. The method of tempering a metallic body which comprises supporting the body at three points and subjecting the body to tempering heat while so supported.

15. A supporting device comprising a three-point support, for material to be treated, to equalize disturbance of load division caused by temperature changes.

16. A supporting device to equalize disturbance of load division caused by temperature changes comprising three spaced nonalined supports mounted for independent tilting movement, and work-engaging means carried by the supports.

17. The method of tempering a body which comprises supporting the body at three uniformly and circumferentially spaced tiltable Points and subjecting the body to tempering heat while so supported.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 8th day of August,

GEORGE M. EATON. 

